


The roads are burning

by Bestboiuwu



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 10:56:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19744288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bestboiuwu/pseuds/Bestboiuwu
Summary: It's the end of the world, and the kagamine twins haven't seen any other human beings for months.  Starving and low on supplies, everything changes when they spy a pair of blue pigtails in the distance. Now they've joined a group of survivors, and it's up to them to hold their own in the apocalypse.





	1. Chapter 1

Eye spy with my little eye something…. Blue."  
"Is it that old pickup truck?"  
"How'd you guess?"  
"It's the only blue thing out here, dummy."   
Kagamine Rin brushed a tattered piece of her yellow hair out of her face. The bow she kept solidly atop her head was now in shambles, and her hair was becoming matted and unruly. I should really just cut it off, she thought. It's more trouble then it's worth, anyway. She normally kept it short, but in the months since she had been on the road it had grown longer and become more difficult to manage.   
"You still got that knife?" She asked, continuing to fiddle with her hair.  
"Yeah, what about it?" Her brother, Len, answered. He had been paying attention to the road in front of them, his mind wandering while he scanned for the dead.  
"Pass it here."  
He passed her the knife, and she began sawing at the mess at the back of her head.   
"Anyways, it's your turn." He said.  
"Eye spy with my little eye, something… red."  
"Is it that dead'un's shirt?"  
"Yup"  
The 'dead'un' in question was pinned underneath a car, and was waving its arms towards the two children. The thing hadn't eaten in months, and it's skin clung tightly to its skull. It's ribs could be seen underneath it's skin, and covering it's emaciated corpse were indeed the tattered remains of a faded red shirt.  
"Should I kill it?" Len asked.  
"Nah," Rin replied, still sawing at her hair, "it can't do no harm. Look at the thing, it can barely move. I reckon it's as hungry as we are."   
Rin put down the knife and ran her fingers through her newly cut hair. The ends were uneven and frayed, and she knew that she probably hadn't done a very good job, but it would have to do. She briefly longed for the ease and simplicity of hair salons, back before the world had come to its end. She quickly pushed that thought out of her mind, however, as she knew that it was foolish to long for the past. She was strong, and she was willing to do what it takes to survive, without having to bother worrying about stupid things like haircuts. Longing for the past was for the weak, she thought, whether it was for a nice haircut or for a decent meal.  
Meals. God did she need a meal. She and Len had been living off of whatever small animals they could catch for months, but lately said creatures were becoming more and more scarce. She figured that they had been dying off themselves, what few hadn't been eaten by the dead being hunted by people like themselves.   
"We need to find some food sometime soon or we'll be dead within the next few days." She stated.  
Len sighed and stretched his arms out towards the sky. "Yeah, I know. But it's getting damn hard to catch rabbits these days. And I'm running low on crossbow bolts."  
Rin glanced over at his crossbow. It was strapped across his back, attached in such away that it could be removed easy. He was right, there were only a few bolts left; what others there had been already been used to try and catch food or dispatch the dead.  
Rin sighed. They were almost out of food, weapons, and any other resources. If they didn't find some fast, they would be dead within days. While she was pondering a solution, she saw something enter her line of vision a far ways down the road. She could just barely make out a figure with some sort of weapon and very long hair. Was that… turquoise?  
She ducked behind one of the nearby cars, grabbing Len and taking him down with her. There was at least one other figure with them. The two were moving quickly, unlike the many undead that roamed the streets.  
"Rin, what's happening?" Len asked. "Are those two survivors?"


	2. Chapter 2

Miku and Kaito were roaming the streets in search of supplies. It was rare that they found anything, but the chance of finding gas to siphon or old parts that could come in handy was high enough that it was worth doing. Miku fiddled with her hair. "Kaitoooooo, I'm boooooored." She whined. And her complaints weren't unwarranted, their work was boring. "It's stupid that we're even here. It's all cause stupid Gumi gave us stupid scavenging duty." She twirled one of her pigtail around her finger, tapping her feet to the rhythm of some imaginary song. "God, she can be such a hard ass."  
Kaito sighed. Miku was the youngest of their group, and was therefore the most, difficult to deal with. Even at 16, Miku was drastically more immature then everyone else. Constantly on the move and impossible to entertain, many members of the group had a hard time putting up with her antics. The only other person close in age to Miku was Gumi, who, despite only being a year older than her, had a zero tolerancy rate for bullshit.  
"You know, she probably wouldn't be so hard on you if you didn't push her buttons so much. She has a lot on her shoulders." Kaito scanned the skyline for undead.  
"Ohhhhhhhh suuuuuuure, I'm sure we could be just the best of friends." Miku smashed in a car window and unlocked the door. Lying on the floor next to the passenger's seat was a growling disembodied head.  
"Haha, nice! Kaito, check it out!" Miku picked up the head and threw it into the air, before hitting it with her baseball bat. It flew a few feet before landing on the pavement with a squelch.  
Kaito shivered. "I wish you wouldn't do that."  
"What? It's dead anyway, might as well have some fun."  
Kaito opened his mouth to object, but was interrupted by the feeling of a knife pressed against his back.  
A blond girl stood behind him, knife at the ready and a stern expression. She was only a kid, but she spoke with a harsh confidence.  
"I have my sniper trained on pigtails over there, so I wouldn't recommend trying anything." she said, the knife farther against his back.  
"We'll be taking your food, and then you're going to wait here for a solid 30 minutes after we leave. We'll be well out of your line of sight by then, so don't try to follow us."  
Miku stared at the girl. Her gaze was confident and focused, and she was clearly doing all she could to steal her nerves. Just for a second though, her glance flicked to Miku's left, before returning back to the blue haired girl.  
Miku subtly jerked her head to the left, gesturing to Kaito. Kaito glanced in the direction that Miku had gestured, and saw a tuft of yellow hair sticking out from behind a car, where a young boy was taking cover. He looked back at Miku and gave her a subtle nod, indicating an okay.  
Kaito spun around and grabbed her arm, twisting until she dropped the knife. Meanwhile, Miku grabbed her crossbow and fired a shot at the boy, shooting through his hand and making him drop his weapon. Kaito knocked the girl to the ground and sat on top of her, pinning her arms down so she couldn't move.  
"FUCK!" The boy screamed. He was on the ground writhing in pain from the crossbow bolt sticking through his hand. Miku pointed the crossbow at his head. "Yeah, wouldn't try that again."  
"Miku, weapons?"  
"Not much." She had kicked Len's bag away from him, and was searching through it with one hand while the other was kept trained on his head.  
"That knife was probably the handiest thing they had. They got another crossbow, though, Not much ammo left."  
"Yeah, well, we're all getting low on that these days." Kaito turned his attention back to the girl, who was trying and failing to wriggle free. "Who are you people? you got a group or are you two out here on your own?"  
The girl kept squirming. "I ain't telling you shit! Let me go!"  
"Fat fucking chance!" Miku chimed in. "You tried to rob our asses!"  
"Miku, quiet down." Kaito chided.  
"I'll ask again. Are you out here by yourself or do you have a group."  
"Kaito, they've got no food, they're nearly out of water and their weapons are shit. If they had a group they'd be better supplied."  
Kaito sighed. "So you're out here on your own, then. How old are you?" The girl didn't respond, she just kept trying to wriggle free.  
"Miku, how bad is the hand?"  
Len was still on the ground, writhing in pain. "It's pretty fucked, dude. It went all the way through."  
Kaito cursed to himself. _Gumi is going to kill_ _me_ , he thought.  
"Okay, here's how this is going to go. I'm going to get off of you, and you won't attack me. Then the two of you are going to come back to out base. We have medical supplies and food. We'll take care of you."  
"What?????" Miku squeaked.  
"They're just kids, Miku."  
"Wow, Gumi's gonna kill you."  
"Yup, sounds about right."  
"Why the fuck should we come with you?" Rin spoke through gritted teeth.  
"I don't know, because we have your weapons,and we're offering you free resources, which you CLEARLY lack, not to mention your friend here's hand is pretty fucked." Miku nudged the injured appendage with her foot, causing Len to whimper.  
Kaito slowly shifted his weight off of Rin's back, before standing and offering a hand to help her to her feet. Rin ignored the hand and scampered backwards before pulling herself up.  
"And why would you do all of that for us."  
"Because you're kids, and Kaito's a big old softie." Miku finally pointed the crossbow away from Len and up to the sky. Rin quickly made her way over to him and helped him up, giving him a shoulder to lean on as he clutched his injured hand. Rin scowled.  
"Everyone has an agenda." She said, trying as hard as she could to read the blue haired girl's expression, try and figure out her angle.  
"Everyone _smart_ has an agenda. Lucky you!"  
"Miku, I swear to god-" Kaito exhaled. "Alright, let's get moving. That hand needs some attention. We should be back before dark.


	3. Chapter 3

The walk back was sticky, the late afternoon sun leaving the air warm and humid. The pathway was shaded with trees, which helped, but not by much.  _ I suppose it beats being right under the sun on that highway, though,  _ Rin thought. She was not comfortable with the current situation; these two strangers out of nowhere offering them help, especially after she and her brother had tried to rob them? They had to be planning  _ something.  _ Why would they be doing this if they weren't planning  _ something? _ She could try and make a run for it, but they had taken the knife as well as Len's crossbow, and without the two of those the twins were as good as dead. Their only option, Rin supposed, was to follow and see where they lead. Maybe they would let their guard down and she could get her knife back.

"Meiko is going to love having someone to help with laundry. Uhg, you guys are going to wish you were eaten by zombies." The blue haired girl grumbled.

Rin finally took the time to stop and observe the girl's hair. It was dyed bright teal, and was kept in long, combed pigtails. Rin wondered how she could do that, in the apacolypse. She could barely keep her own hair combed, and it was much, much shorter than this girl's hair. long hair was a risk, it could be grabbed, caught on things, in the way of your vision, especially when knotted the way that it would get without consistent work. And though she had no experience with hair dye, she was pretty sure it required some degree of upkeep. In fact, the man she was with had blue hair as well, though it was a much darker shade. 

Rin's curiosity started to overcome her apprehension a little, and she decided to test the waters with a question.

"How do you keep your hair like that?"

The man, Kaito, as pigtails had called him, looked a little surprised at the question, but smiled after a moment. "A member of our group, Luka, her mother worked at a hair salon. That's where we're holed up. Believe it or not, we actually have running water."

His smile was a little too kind, a little too friendly. Like he was trying too hard. He wanted to convince her that he was friendly. Ren scowled at this, before being hit by the second major realization that he had provided; they had running water.

Running. Water.

Ren couldn't remember the last time she had a shower. It was part of why her hair was such a mess. She turned to Len who looked equaly as shocked as she did.

"So you could just like, take a bath." He spoke, his voice a little shaky, likely because of his injury, but his tone was ultimately the same as normal. Rin smiled a little, this was a good sign. He had hardly said anything since his hand had been shot, seeing him talk with his normal tone was a sign of recovery, or an emotional recovery at the very least.

"Yup." Kaito replied. "You can just take a bath"

"You can just like, get naked, get into a tub of water, and that's fine"

"That is historically how bathing works, yes." 

"Don't act like it's not fucking weird." Rin blurted.

Everyone was staring at her, now. God, she really wished they weren't staring at her.

"I-I mean, the world has ended, and y'all are taking baths." her hands were shaking a little bit. "That's  _ time.  _ Time  _ exposed. _ You could spend gathering supplies. Checking the perimeter." she hesitated, " _ Not  _ getting eaten by zombies. And you're just sitting there, no gear, no clothes. What if someone attacks and you're just sitting there? What if something happens and you have to make a run for it? It's-it's  _ Irresponsible." _

The man looked at her. his face was an expression that she couldn't quite place- maybe pity?

"Well, you and Gumi are going to get along great." pigtails chimed in. "blah blah wasting time this blah blah irresponsible that." she flapped her hand open and closed like a pretend mouth. "seriously, could you be any more high strung? you two need to learn to relax." pigtails turned back around and kept walking.

_ relax? _

She couldn't relax. Not with the world as it was, not with the life she was living. Relaxing wasn't an option. Relaxation instead of doing what? Finding food? Fighting for their lives?

No, she couldn't relax. Time spent relaxing meant time not spent surviving. Relaxing meant her and her brother getting eaten alive.

Relaxing meant death.

Rin opened her mouth to say something, she didn't know what, maybe she'd blow up, scream all of this at the girl with the pigtails, about how wrong she was, how ignorant the idea of relaxation even was.

"we're here."

Rin closed her mouth.


End file.
